Corn-chopping machine.



Rm 0 9 l 0 1 N A .J D E T N E T A P Z T E E H C S 0 .RW 2 w 9 7 7 mm N CORN SHOPPING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION FILED 11,111.26, 190

A 2 I i Inventor Wxtnesses Hthornegs Patented January 10, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES SCHEETZ, OF HANOVER, KANSAS.

CORN-CHOPPING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 779,625, dated January 10, 1905.

Application filed March 26, 1904. Serial No. 200,188.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that LCI-IARLEs SoHEETz, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hanover, in the county of WVashington and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Corn- Chopping Machine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for cutting and chopping ear-corn for the purpose of providing chopped feed; and it has for its object to provide a device of this class which shall be simple in construction, easily oper ated, and by means of which the ears of corn subjected to the action thereof shall be thoroughly cut, chopped, and disintegrated.

The invention consists in certain improvements in the construction, arrangement, and combination of parts,which will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings has been illustrated a simple and preferred form of embodiment of the invention, it being understood, however, that changes and modifications may be made, especially with regard to the size, proportion, and exact manner of assemblage, within the scope of the invention and without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of its advantages.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved corn-chopping machine, the top plate or cover and the hopper having been removed. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of the same, the top plate or cover and the hopper being in position. Fig. 3 is a perspective detail view showing one of the side plates of the concave, a portion of the same having been broken away for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the construction. Fig. 4 is a perspective detail view of one of the cutters. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of the cutter-carrying shafts.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are indicated by similar numerals of reference.

The machine includes a rectangular frame or casting 1, supported at its four corners by legs 2 2, suitably bolted to or otherwise connected with said frame. The latter is provided at its upper edge with bearings 3 for the shafts 4: and 5, the former of which is eX- tended beyond its bearings and carries at one end a driving-pulley 6 and at its opposite end a iiy-wheel 7. Adjacent to the fly-wheel the shaft 4 also carries a pinion 8, which meshes with a spur-wheel 9, mounted upon an extending end of the shaft 5. The spur-wheel 9 is intended to be of a diameter equal to about three times the diameter of the pinion 8, so that the shaft 4 will rotate at a speed about three times greater than the speed of rotation of the shaft 5.

The portions of the shafts e and 5 intermediate the ends which are journaled in their respective bearings are square in cross-section and each has a quarter-twist, as will be clearly seen in Figs. 5 and 6, the twists of said shafts being in opposite directions. Each of the shafts carries a plurality of cutters 1O ciform, as may be best seen in Figs. 1 and 4:

of the drawings, each side of the cuttingblades having long cutting edges 13, short back edges 14, and outer cutting edges 15, which latter are disposed obliquely, as will be clearly seen. The edges 13 and 15 are drawn to sharp cutting edges, while the backs 14: are blunt. A suitable number of these cutting-disks are placed upon each of the shafts 4: and 5, where they are spaced apart from each other by means of washers 16 of suitable thickness to prevent the cutters, which are disposed intercurrently upon the shafts, from coming into contact with or interfering with each other. Set-collars or spacing-col lars 17 are disposed adjacent to the outermost cutters on each shaft, the function of said collars being to retain the cutters in position from the shafts and also to space the said cutters upon the sides of the frame in which the operated upon.

shafts are journaled, as will be presently described. It is obviously unnecessary that the set-collars or spacing-collars should be independently secured upon the respective shafts, provided that said collars are made of such thickness that their outer edges will abut upon the sides of the frame, the parts that is to say, the frame, the shafts, the cutters, the washers, and the spacing-collars-being so proportioned as to insure a proper fit when the parts are assembled.

The spur-wheel 9 is secured upon its shaft 5 by means of a break-pin 18, which in the event of hard material, such as stones or pieces of iron, entering into the machine said pin will break, thereby preventing further rotation of the shaft and consequent possibility of injury to the machine.

By reason of the construction of the knives or cutters as herein described they will be found very eflicient in reducing material fed between them to any desired degree of fineness, and it will be further found that they will be self-clearing and that there is no danger of any portion of the material operated upon adhering to the blades of said cutters. The cutters are mounted upon the shafts 4E and 5 for rotation in opposite directions. and the cutters are mounted upon each of said shaft-s in such a manner that the long cutting edges 13 shall be the front edges or those which directly engage the corn that is to be It will, moreover, be noted that two cutter-carrying shafts are rotated at different speeds. Consequently the long cutting edges of one set of cutters will not merely cooperate with the long cutting edges of the other set, but with the obliquely-disposed end edges and the blunt back edges as well, as will be readily understood by reference to Fig. 6 of the drawings, where it will be seen that the cutters upon the rapidly-rotating shaft 4. will coact with the cutters upon the slowly-rotating shaft 5 in such a manner as to exercise the comminuting functions in the manner set forth.

The frame 1, which supports the shafts 1 5, is provided with half-boxes 19, which are suitably bolted thereto and which cooperate with the bearings 3 to form the boxings in which the shafts 4E and 5 are journaled.

2O designates a hopper which is suitably connected with a casing 21,which may be bolted to or otherwise suitably mounted upon the frame 1. This casing, if desired, may be hingedly connected with the frame at one end thereof, as shown, so that in case of necessity its free end may be raised or tilted upwardly to give access to the interior parts of the machine.

22 designates a double concave which is composed of side pieces 23 23, each of which includes two similarly-curved portions 2 1, provided near their curved edges with ribs 25 and having spacing-lugs 26 of a thickness equal to that of the ribs 25 The lugs; 26 are provided with perforations 27, extending through the side pieces and countersunk at their inner ends for the reception of the heads 28 of bolts 29, whereby the side pieces of the concave are secured to the sides of the frame, from which they are spaced by the ribs 25 and lugs 26. The side pieces 23 are provided in their inner sides with recesses 30, which are spaced equidistantly from the curved edges of said side pieces and which are for the reception of the ends of rods or grate-bars 31, which are loosely fitted in said recesses. In practice I have found that the rods or gratebars may profitably be three-eighths of an inch in diameter, while the recesses in which they are fitted may be nine-sixteenths of an inch, thereby enabling the said rods or gratebars to rattle loosely and freely with relation to their supporting means, thus preventing material from clogging the machine. The rods or grate-bars may be spaced any desired distance apart, they being placed sufficiently close together, however, to prevent the passage of material therebetween until such material has been reduced to the desired degree of fineness.

The mounting of the grate-bars in such a manner that they may rattle or play freely with relation to their supporting means or bearings is regarded as an important feature of the improved machine. Not only are the grate-bars thereby rendered rotatable, thus permitting material which has not been reduced to the requisite degree of fineness to pass between said grate-bars to be rotated by contact therewith while it is still being operated upon by the knives or cutters, but the said grate-bars, owing to being thus mounted, are rendered capable of exercising a grinding action upon pieces of material just large enough to squeeze between them, thereby greatly assisting in carrying out the final ends and objects of the invention.

As previously stated, the cutting-disks are maintained in position upon their respective shafts without necessity for fastening means other than those which take the form of spacing washers and collars. Owing to the quarter-twists of the square portions of the shafts upon which the cutting-disks are mounted, the disks of each shaft will be in a relatively receding position with relation to each other from one end of the shaft to the other, which is much preferable to disposing each set of cutting edges in the same plane. It will also be observed that owing to the quarter-twists of the shafts being in opposite directions the cutting-disks carried by the two shafts will recede with relation to each other in opposite directions. It has been found that by this arrangement the strain upon the working parts of the machine is equalized and that the power required to drive the machine will be materially reduced.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings hereto annexed, the operation and advantages of this invention will be readily understood. The general construction is simple and inexpensive. parts may be easily assembled without the use of a large number of bolts, set-screws, and

the like, which tend to reduce the strength of.

a machine as a whole by necessitating the pro vision of perforations for the reception of such connecting members. The parts of the concave are assembled by simply inserting the ends of the grate-bars or rods loosely in the recessed sides of the concave. Said sides are then lifted into position between the sides of the frame and secured by means of the bolts 29, two such bolts being used on each side. At the points where these bolts are used the side members of the concave are reinforced by the spacing-lugs 26, and when said bolts have been secured in position the gratebars will be retained with absolute security for the simple reason that the side members of the concave are rigidly connected 'with the sides of the frame 1, which cannot yield or spread. In like manner, as has been previously described, the cutters and the spacing means for the latter will be secured upon their respective shafts by no other means than the washers and spacing-bars, which are of such dimensions as to precisely fill the space between the sides of the main frame. When the machine is in operation, material fed into the hopper will be immediately subjected to the action of the cutters, which by their peculiar construction and also owing to the fact that one cutter-carrying shaft is rotated at a speed much in excess of the other cutter-car rying shaft will quickly and thoroughly reduce the material to the requisite degree of fineness, when it will escape between the grate-bars of the concave.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a corn-chopping machine, a frame mounted upon supporting-legs, side members connected with said frame and having spaced recesses in their inner sides, grate-bars mounted loosely, and capable of radial movement in said recesses and rotary chopping mechanism.

2. In a corn chopping machine, a frame mounted upon supporting-legs, shafts journaled upon said frame, reduction means upon said shafts, means for rotating said shafts at different speeds, said shafts being operatively connected with each other, side members connected with the frame and having series of re cesses disposed in arcs concentric with the shafts, and grate-bars mounted loosely in and capable of independent radial movement in said recesses.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with a frame and shafts journaled in said frame, of interengaging cooperating cut- The ters upon said shafts, said cutters being provided with outwardly-extending arms having long, straight cutting edges at their front edges, relatively short, blunt back edges and straight, sharp cutting edges at their outer ends. 7

4. In a device of the class described, a cutter having outwardly-extending blades with the outer edges of opposite blades approximately parallel to each other, said blades being provided with long, straight cutting edges merging with the outer cutting edges and short, straight, blunt back edges.

5. In a device of the class described, a cutter having a plurality of arms disposed around a central axis, each of said blades having a long, straight front cutting edge, a short, blunt back edge, and a sharp outer cutting edge merging with the front and back edges, the outer cutting edges of oppositely disposed arms being approximately parallel to each other.

6. In a machine of the class described, a grated concave consisting of side members having recesses forming seats, and bars fitted loosely and capable of independent radial movement in said seats and rotary chopping mechanism cooperating with said concave.

7. In a machine of the class described, a grated concave consisting of a plurality of loosely-supported grate-bars, each bar being capable of independent radial movement, and the several bars being spaced apart in combination with rotary chopping mechanism cooperating with said concave.

8. In a machine of the class described, a grated concave consisting of detachablymounted, firmly-supported side members having recesses, grate-bars having ends initially smaller than said recesses and loosely seated therein to be capable of independent radial movement, means for supporting the side members in combination with rotary chopping mechanism cooperating with the concave.

9. A grated concave consisting of side members provided on their outer sides with reinforcing-ribs and spacing-lugs and provided in their inner sides with recesses registering with the reinforcing-ribs, and grate-bars supported loosely and capable of playing freely in said recesses, said side pieces being provided with perforations extending through the spacinglugs, in combination with a supporting-frame, and connecting members extending through the perforations in the side members of the concave and through the side members of the frame.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES SOHEETZ.

Witnesses:

FRED BoET'roHER, F. IMMING. 

